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Reflections on a Year of Reading Irish Literature

Books: Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe, In the Woods by Tana French, and Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

All books except Dracula was placed in Ireland. The Butcher Boy, In the Woods and Angela’s Ashes, shows the poor side of Ireland. In all three books, it revolves around a lower-middle-class environment. Those three books use a lot of typical Irish language while Dracula uses a more difficult language for being written in 1897. The language used is pretty much the same in The Butcher Boy and Angela’s Ashes, the interesting part is that both books were published around the same time and both involve an extremely poor community and are told by the child’s point of view. Through the books, I learned that Ireland is really rural and is not plain. Also, the weather is pretty much the same all year around. It is never too cold or too hot and it is always raining, well, for the most of the time. I learned that the people there can be very friendly, but at most are judgemental. In all books, the people of the city join up against the outcasts. In Dracula, the people hated Count Dracula. In The Butcher Boy, Mrs. Nugent hated Francie and called his family pigs. In the book In the Woods, the people of the city looked down upon the teenagers who partied in the woods. In Angela’s Ashes, the people of Limerick at first did not think Angela deserved to get charity. I do not know if the country is actually like that, but that is how all four authors made it look like.

Through the books, I learned that not everything is the way it seems. At first, Jonathan Harker trusts Dracula and goes against everything the people of the town say about him. Harker then becomes enchanted with Dracula’s manners and becomes a prisoner. In the Woods, at first, Ryan is enchanted with Rosalind which causes him to lose focus on the investigation. In the end, Rosalind was the mastermind behind the assassination of her younger sister. In the Butcher Boy, no one expected that going into a correctional school run by priests would only make Francie worse. Another lesson I learned is to always be optimistic and have hope. Through Angela’s Ashes, you see these kids who could have become criminals and have every reason to be just like their father, instead they force themselves to do better, to be better. Frank McCourt did not even attend high school, yet he talked his way into college and won a Pulitzer Prize. All his siblings went on to become writers and succeed in life.

Reading these books has taught me a lot about commitment and responsibility. Usually, when I do not like a book within the first chapter I just never finish it. I could not do this with these books. I had to read all of them and actually pay attention to later write about them. It was my responsibility to remember to read the 15 pages and post a quote every day. Sometimes it was hard and I forgot about it, but other days, especially when I was reading In the Woods, it was enjoyable. Throughout the twenty weeks of independent reading, there were hard times (when I was reading Dracula) where I did not want to read the book at all and had to force myself to continue. This project was good and bad.

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Week 20 Blog

Angela’s Ashes

By Frank McCourt

Pages Read:45-90

Words: 375

Summary: The family arrives in Ireland and is greeted coldly by the father’s family. Malachy goes to the IRA to claim pensions, but when he gets there they tell him they have no records of him serving. Malachy does not have enough money to even pay for the bus trip home for his family. They end up sleeping in a police barrack. The officers raise money to pay for them to go home, to Limerick. They now meet their mother’s family. Angela has a miscarriage, she later goes to get money from charities. Frank’s younger brother, Oliver, becomes sick and dies. Malachy spends all the family money on alcohol. Frank and his brother Malachy Jr now star school.

Critical Analysis: “My mother and Aunt Aggie cried, Grandma looked angry, Dad, Uncle Pa Keating, and Uncle Pat Sheehan looked sad but did not cry and I thought that if you’re a man you can cry only when you have the black stuff that is called the pint.” It is clear how young Frank is and how his innocence overpowers any other feeling. He does not understand what is happening yet, he remembers what the people around him have said. He is a smart kid.

“I don’t know why we can’t keep Eugene. I don’t know why they have to send him away with that man who puts his pint on the white coffin. I don’t know why they had to send them Margaret away and Oliver. It is a bad thing to put my sister and my brothers in a box and I wish I could say something to someone.” Here again, his innocence is clear. His parents did not prepare him for so many losses early in his life. It is clear his parents are not explaining what is going on to him. Frank just tries to fill in the blanks the best way he can.

Personal Response: Again the author puts too much information in not enough pages. At the same time, the characters were in the police barrack, Angela was already at the hospital after her miscarriage. It feels rushed. Although McCourt does give many details, you can tell it is a child’s memory.

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“I don’t know why we can’t keep Eugene. I don’t know why they have to send him away with that man who puts his pint on the white coffin. I don’t know why they had to send them Margaret away and Oliver. It is a bad thing to put my sister and my brothers in a box and I wish I could say something to someone.”

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt p.88

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My mother and Aunt Aggie cried, Grandma looked angry, Dad, Uncle Pa Keating, and Uncle Pat Sheehan looked sad but did not cry and I thought that if you're a man you can cry only when you have the black stuff that is called the pint.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt p.76

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“Dad says, Cuchlain fought to the end like the men of Easter Week. His enemies were afraid to go near him till they were sure he was dead and when the bird landed on him and drank his blood they knew. Well, says the driver, ‘tis a sad day for the men of Ireland when they need a bird to tell them a man is dead.”

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt p.56

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Week 19 Blog

Angela’s Ashes

By Frank McCourt

Pages Read: 1-46

Words: 304

Summary:  Frank describes how his parents meet and get married in New York and how they moved back to Ireland with their four boys. Frank then goes on to tell the story of how his parents first met and some details about their lives. When Angela got pregnant of Malachy her cousins, the McNamara sisters, force Malachy to marry Angela. He then makes a plan to run away from the wedding and move to California, but he spends all his money in a pub. Frank is born and a year later he has a brother, Malachy. A couple of years later, Angela has twin boys, Eugene and Oliver. Frank’s father often spends his wages at the pub, which causes Angela to have no money to feed her children. Angela has a daughter, Margaret, who in some way touches Malachy and he then stops drinking for a short period of time, but by the end of the chapter, Margaret dies. The death of her daughter puts Angela in a state of depression which causes her to neglect her children. The chapter ends with four-year-old Frank watching as his mother vomits over the side of the ship as they go back to Ireland.

Personal Response: In this first chapter, the author tries to give us background information on the parents, how they met, how their first years were together and what lead them to move back to Ireland. I feel like way too much information was squeezed into this first chapter and it could have been spread out more. It was not confusing, but also there’s no way the author remembers these facts so he goes off of what other people told him. His writing is extremely personal and makes us feel as if we were there.

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“Och, Malachy, for God’s sake, it’s three in the morning. You have the whole house woke with the singing.”

Angela’s ashes by Frank McCourt p.40

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When I was a child I would look at my father, the thinning hair, the collapsing teeth, and wonder why anyone would give money for a head like that.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt p.12

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Week 18 Blog

The Butcher Boy

By Patrick McCabe

Pages Read: 180-231(end)

Words: 440

Summary: Francie has been released from the mental institute. Francie discovers that Joe is at a boarding school. He decides to go there while going there he stops off at a boarding house where his father had said he and Francie's mother had spent their honeymoon. He talks to the landlady and she tells him that his father had treated his mother terribly during their honeymoon. Francie continues his travels and arrives at Joe's school in the middle of the night. He breaks in and talks to Joe. He then realizes that Joe has moved on from their friendship and is now friends with Philip. Francie returns home and goes back to his job at the butchers. One day, he goes to the Nugent's house. Mrs. Nugent answers and Francie forces his way in. He attacks her and shoots her in the head with the butcher's gun. He cuts her open and writes the word pig over the walls with her blood. He hides her body in a cart full of meat. He casually resumes his rounds and makes his way back to the butcher shop, where he is arrested by the police. The police can’t find the body, so Francie goes free for a while until he admits where he put the body and finally gets caught.

Critical Analysis:

“I couldn’t stop laughing with all the whiskey inside me and the wind in my face and the pebbles skitting on all sides end of the world I says what are they talking about this is the beginning of the world, not the end.” In this quote, we see an almost forgotten side of Francie. He is young and full of hope, but every small event brings him right back to his dark place.

“There was a drawing of me standing there and underneath Francis Brady is a pig.” Francie since his first encounter with Mrs. Nugent has been traumatized about being called a pig and that will always haunt him. I feel like he thinks this is what made his mother commit suicide.

Personal Response: The end of the book was expected. Through the book, we see a criminal being raised and everything he has been through. We see everything he is going through even at the time he is committing the crime. I believe the author’s intention was to help us understand mental disorders. It is clear that Francie wasn’t sane. The language sometimes is hard to understand and it is full of typical Irish slang. What happens to Francie at the end is left unclear.

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“There was a drawing of me standing there and underneath Francis Brady is a pig.”

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe p.228

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It was a good laugh listening to all this I could see everything from inside the hide and old Sausage would he have kicked himself stupid if he knew that he was standing right beside me twice.

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe p.220

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I knew I shouldn't have shouted that, but I did.

The Butcher Boy by Frank McCabe p.202

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“I couldn’t stop laughing with all the whiskey inside me and the wind in my face and the pebbles skitting on all sides end of the world I says what are they talking about this is the beginning of the world, not the end.”

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe p.185

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Week 17 Blog

The Butcher Boy

By Patrick McCabe

Pages read: 120 - 180

Words: 430

Summary: Francie is sent to an 'industrial school' run by priests after invading the Nugent’s house. During his time at the industrial school, he is molested by one of the priests and becomes friends with a gardener who tells him many stories. Francie says he has forgotten all about the Nugents and is determined to get back to town and continue with his friendship with Joe. When he gets released Francie goes back to town, expecting a nice welcome party from Joe. Francie finds it hard to get in touch with his friend, and when he does he notices that Joe does not want to talk to him anymore. When Francie is attacked by Mrs. Nugent's brother, Buttsy, and his friend Devlin, Joe says that he does not want anything to do with him. Francie gets a job in the local butcher shop. He impresses the owner with his ability to kill without any feeling, through his job he wants to make his father proud. He starts to drink at weekends and goes to the local club to possibly get into fights. After a while, the police go into his house to find that his father has been dead for a long time, and Francie is committed to a mental hospital.

Critical Analysis: “I knocked up the home bakery but not a sound so in I went round the back.” In this quote, Francie is just going to a bakery, yet he robs it just because no one was there. At this point, it’s clear that Francie does have some kind of mental problem.

“I turned and went home before he seen me but I didn’t sleep I just sat the window looking out.” Francie goes to see his friend Joe, but he’s with Philip Nugent. Instead of actually going in to try to talk his friend he walks away. Yet it’s clear how hurt he his because he lost his friend.

Personal Response: We see another side of Francis throughout this week. Francis is not an innocent boy anymore and now we are finally seeing is true colors. He is now a broken and cruel person. Ha has lost so much in his life and been through inexplicable things, but nothing justifies his behavior. He needed help and everyone either left or turned their back on him. The way the author writes the book is as if Francis was actually writing it. The language sometimes is hard to understand and it is full of typical Irish informal language.

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“ I turned and went home before he seen me but I didn’t sleep I just sat the window looking out.”

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe p. 170

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I knocked up the home bakery but not a sound so in I went round the back.

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe p.150

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“...I’d just sit there with da thinking about things one thing I thought was dumb people must have black holes in their stomachs from not being able to cry out.”

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe p.148